A psychoactive drug, psychopharmaceutical, or psychotropic is a chemical substance that crosses the blood-brain barrier and acts primarily upon the central nervous system where it affects brain function, resulting in alterations in perception, mood, consciousness, cognition, and behavior. [1] These substances may be used recreationally, to purposefully alter one's consciousness, or as entheogens, for ritual, spiritual, and/or shamanic purposes, as a tool for studying or augmenting the mind. Many psychoactive drugs have therapeutic utility, e.g., as anesthetics, analgesics, or for the treatment of psychiatric disorders.
Psychoactive substances often bring about subjective changes in consciousness and mood that the user may find pleasant (e.g. euphoria) or advantageous (e.g. increased alertness) and are thus reinforcing. Thus, many psychoactive substances are abused, that is, used excessively, despite health risks or negative consequences. With sustained use of some substances, psychological and physical dependence (“addiction”) may develop, making the cycle of abuse even more difficult to interrupt. Drug rehabilitation aims to break this cycle of dependency, through a combination of psychotherapy, support groups, maintenance and even other psychoactive substances. However, the reverse is also true in some cases, that certain experiences on drugs may be so unfriendly and uncomforting that the user may never want to try the substance again. This is especially true of the deliriants (e.g. Jimson weed) and powerful dissociatives (e.g. Salvia divinorum). Most purely psychedelic drugs are considered to be non-addictive (e.g. LSD, psilocybin, mescaline). “Psychedelic amphetamines” or empathogen-entactogens (such as MDA and MDMA) may produce an additional stimulant and/or euphoriant effect, and thus have an addiction potential.
Medical cannabis has several potential beneficial effects. Medical marijuana is helpful to people who experience chronic non-cancer pain, vomiting and nausea caused by chemotherapy. The drug can also help with treating symptoms of AIDS patients. As of 2 today, the use of medical marijuana is legalized in over 20 U.S. states, and legalization of marijuana for any purpose by individuals over the age of 18 ha been approved in 2 different states. Animal studies show cannabinoids found in marijuana may have analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects, antitumor effects, and anticancer effects, including the treatment of breast and lung cancer.
Medical cannabis (or medical marijuana) refers to the use of cannabis and its constituent cannabinoids, such as Cannabidiol (“CBD”), as medical therapy to treat disease or alleviate symptoms. Cannabis has been used to reduce nausea and vomiting in chemotherapy and people with AIDS, and to treat pain and muscle spasticity.
Medical cannabis can be administered by a variety of routes, including vaporizing or smoking dried bud and leaf portions, eating leaf or extracts, and taking capsules. Synthetic cannabinoids are available as prescription drugs in some countries. Medical cannabis can also be made into an edible form such as lozenges, candies, baked goods.
Tetrahydrocannabinol THC, is the principal psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant. An aromatic terpenoid, THC has a very low solubility in water, but good solubility in most organic solvents, specifically lipids and alcohols. In general, THC has mild to moderate analgesic effects, and cannabis can be used to treat pain by altering transmitter release on dorsal root ganglion of the spinal cord and in the periaqueductal gray. Other effects include relaxation, alteration of visual, auditory, and olfactory senses, fatigue, and appetite stimulation. THC has marked antiemetic properties, and may also reduce aggression in certain subjects. Evidence suggests that THC helps alleviate symptoms suffered both by AIDS patients, and by cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, by increasing appetite and decreasing nausea. It has also been shown to assist some glaucoma patients by reducing pressure within the eye, and is used in the form of cannabis by a number of multiple sclerosis patients, who use it to alleviate neuropathic pain and spasticity.
Cannabidiol (“CBD”) is one of at least 85 cannabinoids found in cannabis. It is a major constituent of the plant, second to THC, and represents up to 40% in its extracts. Compared with THC, CBD is not psychoactive in healthy individuals, and is considered to have a wider scope of medical applications than THC, including to epilepsy, multiple sclerosis spasms, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, nausea, convulsion and inflammation, as well as inhibiting cancer cell growth.
Cannabis growers have been developing different strains of cannabis plants that have different THC and CBD levels. Medical cannabis users have been demanding medical cannabis products that have CBD as the main active ingredient, and little or no THC, providing some of the medicinal benefits of cannabis without the psychoactive effects caused mainly by THC.
U.S. Patent Publication No. 20020136752 by Whittle et al., dated Sep. 26, 2002, is directed to pharmaceutical formulations for use in the administration of medicaments, in particular lipophilic medicaments, via mucosal surfaces. Paragraph 27 states: “Both sublingual and buccal formulations depend on the efficient transfer of medicament from a hydrophilic vehicle to the mucous membrane of the sublingual or buccal mucosae. Transfer of medicament through the interstices between or through epithelial cells is governed principally by the lipid solubility of the medicament. Where a drug is water insoluble this is a further barrier to absorption from the sublingual area. There are therefore physical and biological limitations on the therapeutic usefulness of lipophilic medicaments such as, for example, cannabis and cannabinoids given by mouth and swallowed.”